Missed Connection

Tuesday night, I dropped by The Storefront Theatre to watch comedic play "CLAIRE, from the bus" (Kjartan Hewitt) produced by LIARS co. Ralph (Ennis Esmer) and Lemmy (Mayko Nguyen), two underemployed "creatives", are in a long-term relationship. The play opens in his apartment on the morning of his 31st birthday. He wants them to hang out with his friends at local pub The Station. She, not being particularly fond of his friends or their routines, has decided to attend instead a pot-luck being organized by her community-theatre director Donovan.

Feeling out of sorts at her snub and their stagnant rut ("I think she's only seeing me because she doesn't know how to stream TV shows off the Internet"), Ralph talks to his motor-mouth, hound-dog friend Donald (David Reale) whose advice goes from bad to worse. This shouldn't have surprised Ralph as Donald's current pitch is a club song called "My Thumb In Your Bum". On the way home on the Ossington bus, Ralph notices a possibly under-age girl named Claire (Bryn McAuley). Thus starts a chat that evolves into on-line flirtation which leads to a disastrous encounter at his place.

This is a hilarious play with an affectionate understanding of contemporary characters: theatre majors arguing over 1st year crit lit, 30-something geeks debating Blue-Ray vs DVD and hipster culture. The projection of text messaging, a crucial technology in the plot as well as the source of quite a few laughs, onto a side wall is a clever way to incorporate it into a live show. All the actors have a great time with the natural dialogue but Reale stole the show as the side-kick lacking any sort of filter between brain and mouth. At just over an hour, this would be a perfect, little gem except for a few unrealistic premises; it's pure male fantasy the idea of a sexually aggressive yet whimsical younger woman. This is practically Manic Pixie Dream Girl territory.